In a recent interview, Bush said, "This isn't one of the
presidencies where you ride off into the sunset, you know, kind of
waving goodbye."

Bush underestimates how poorly his record will reflect on him.
In an informal survey of historians, 61 percent ranked Bush dead
last among all American presidents, finally getting James Buchanan
off the hook.

In a column a couple of years ago, I forgave my friends for
their 2000 Bush vote. But since Bush repeatedly displayed just how
in over his head he was during his first four years, I didn't
extend my generosity to them for their continued 2004 support.

Transparent as Bush was, enough Americans voted for him a second
time, thus enabling him to finish the country off. A large bloc
simply could not vote for the Democrat John Kerry - in retrospect a
high price to have paid for party loyalty.

I've had several conversations in recent weeks with devoted
Bushies. The strongest argument any of them can make is that, as
they put it, "at least we haven't been attacked again."

But my question is if Bush is so dedicated to national security,
why is our border with Mexico still wide-open? And why do sworn
border defenders agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean remain in
jail even as Bush has started his rounds of presidential
pardons?

Bush's legacy, which he is so concerned about, will include two
colossal failures: the Iraq War and the financial crisis
precipitated by the mortgage meltdown.

Many Americans who do not have friends or relatives who are
among the 4,200 killed in Iraq are spared from the direct pain the
war inflicted. Yet we deeply mourn their losses.

Still, although no one would trade the loss of a loved one for a
home mortgage, the housing disaster has devastated thousands more
Americans - tens of thousands of them who live in the Lodi-Stockton
area.

The consequences of Bush's financial folly are enormous.

The crisis kicked into high gear when Bush pushed the pedal to
the metal with his 2002 announcement to increase minority home
ownership by 5.5 million. Lending the money proved no problem.
Paying it back is, as we have seen, a different story.

After Bush's proclamation, everything soon changed. At first,
home values shot up. But once reality struck, prices in the San
Joaquin Valley, now unanimously considered the nation's No. 1 area
most adversely impacted by foreclosures, went into free fall.

Today, the valley is a housing wasteland whose collapse is
worldwide news that reporters from as far away as Japan and Paris
cover. A "60 Minutes" feature highlighted the "Home Repo Tour" that
offers prospective buyers homes they can pick up for as much as 70
percent less than their pre-crisis asking price.

For a comprehensive analysis of the housing cave in and how it
evolved, interested parties with strong stomachs should read the
New York Times series "The Reckoning." In its ongoing report, 16
articles to date, the Times fingered the predictable suspects -
Citibank, Merrill Lynch and Washington Mutual.

Other, less obvious culprits named by the Times are:

• Former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros and now a
multi-million-dollar real estate developer who, according to the
Times, "encouraged the unprepared to buy homes" Cisneros duped many
Hispanics who because of their shared ethnicities were easy targets
for him.

• An unrepentant Phil Graham, former U.S. senator from Texas and
champion of banking deregulation who from 1999-2001 relentlessly
pushed for laws that he says unshackled businesses from needless
restraints but ultimately lead to their economic collapse.

• The credit watchdog agencies Moody's, Standard and Poor's, and
Fitch Ratings gave glowing recommendations to substandard real
estate lenders like Countrywide Financial, overlooking in their
reviews the inherent risks. From the fees it extracted, Moody's
enjoyed profit margins that were higher than the richest Fortune
500 companies, including Exxon and Microsoft.

The total Bush devastation won't be known until long after he's
gone.

In a so far futile effort to make it appear like something
positive is being done to restore the economy, the federal
government has distributed willy nilly billions of dollars in
bailouts.

Banks have been nationalized; the auto industry may not survive.
Consumer confidence, and the purchasing power it generates, is in
the tank. The damage list is longer but decidedly not "Happy New
Year" in its tone, so I'll forego it.

In 2009, Americans are left to hunker down and hope that
president-elect Barack Obama can deliver on at least a small
percentage of his campaign promises.

Frankly, after Bush, I'd settle for a one-in-10 success
ratio.

Joe Guzzardi didn't vote for Barack Obama. But he is rooting
for him. Contact Guzzardi at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.